When Zhao Hanzhang and her group left Anling, they encountered several waves of people on the road. She killed all the Xiongnu soldiers, then untied and released the Han captives, distributing the grain the Xiongnu had plundered to them. “Don’t go to Chen County. The roads are full of Xiongnu troops—you won’t be able to get through. Go to Liang Kingdom, or hide in the nearby forests. Wait until spring next year before coming out.”
“Spring?” A woman who had been given a small bag of grain asked numbly, “Will the Xiongnu be gone by spring?”
Zhao Hanzhang nodded earnestly. “By spring, they’ll be gone!”
Watching them head toward the deep forest, Zhao Hanzhang mounted her horse. After pondering for a moment, she said, “We’re going to Shen County and Yanggu County.”
Fu Tinghan immediately understood. “You want to circle around before going to Guan City?”
Zhao Hanzhang lifted her chin slightly, her gaze resolute. “I want to meet Gou Xi.”
Yanzhou was Gou Xi’s territory, but in fact, the areas around Liang Kingdom and Puyang Kingdom had also been occupied by him.
Because he was contending with the Prince of Donghai, he had fought all the way to Luoyang, and along the way had seized these places—unfortunately, they all belonged to Yuzhou’s territory.
Yuzhou was one of the Nine Provinces and located in their very center. How vast was its territory?
Under its jurisdiction were ten commanderies and kingdoms. Runan was merely one of the slightly larger ones. By modern divisions, it encompassed most of Henan, parts of eastern Shandong and Anhui, small portions of northern Hebei and Shanxi, and parts of Hubei—covering an extraordinarily wide range. But in reality, the territory Governor He controlled was not extensive.
Of the ten commanderies and kingdoms, only five were truly under his control. If Zhao Hanzhang truly became the Regional Inspector, what she would inherit from him would be just these five commanderies. The rest would depend on her own ability to reclaim.
And currently, most of the lost territory was in Gou Xi’s hands.
Zhao Hanzhang had never thought of competing with Gou Xi for control of these territories, nor was that what she was thinking now.
Right now, the most urgent matter was the external enemy. In the short term, Zhao Hanzhang was unwilling to engage in internal strife with him.
Originally, she had thought to push various parties to persuade Gou Xi to send troops, but now she had changed her mind. She wanted to meet him personally. There were still so many common people outside Chen County—could they just be left exposed to the iron hooves of the Xiongnu?
After the clear field and strong walls strategy, when the Xiongnu retreated empty-handed, these people would inevitably bear the brunt of the Xiongnu’s fury with nowhere to vent.
Zhao Hanzhang gripped the reins tightly and immediately changed direction.
That afternoon, Zhao Hanzhang captured Yanggu County, but she didn’t stay. After driving away the Xiongnu troops in the county and having the people inside either evacuate immediately or enter the mountain forests, she had her forces take two days’ worth of rations and left again.
She wandered about everywhere. The Xiongnu couldn’t figure out her direction at all. They clearly saw her heading east, and Liu Yuan had already dispatched troops to defend the eastern cities, hoping to wait at ease for the fatigued enemy and even ambush her. But she ended up breaking through a county city in northern Yuzhou—again only breaking through, seizing sufficient spoils of war, scattering the Xiongnu troops, and then leaving without holding the city.
Liu Yuan had no choice but to order all armies to send out large numbers of scouts, but they still couldn’t determine her direction of advance. She unexpectedly didn’t continue north but returned south, leaving from the east while he was transferring troops to the northern county cities for reinforcement.
Oh, and she attacked the county city where they had been hiding and waiting to ambush her, though she didn’t break through the city walls. They still suffered heavy losses.
Liu Yuan immediately had the reinforcements that had run halfway turn back, but by the time they arrived, Zhao Hanzhang had already left and disappeared without a trace again.
Liu Yuan was currently at Fan County directing overall operations. Upon hearing the battle report, he angrily smashed a bowl and roared, “Is that one force or many? You haven’t even caught a glimpse of them, yet they’re leading you around by the nose like monkeys!”
“Perhaps it’s more than one force,” someone immediately followed his lead. “The commander’s movements are mysterious. They say it’s Zhao Hanzhang from Xiping, but no one can truly confirm it’s her. Perhaps multiple forces are operating under her name.”
Liu Yuan was no fool. He sneered and asked, “When has Yuzhou—no, when has the Jin Kingdom—ever had such capability to field so many excellent commanders and warhorses?”
“Two thousand cavalry, and you’re saying it’s multiple forces? Do you think warhorses blow in on the wind? Go investigate! Have the scouts find them for me, dig three feet into the ground if necessary!”
Everyone could only lower their heads in agreement.
Liu Yuan paced in place, suppressing his fury as he asked, “Still haven’t taken Chen County?”
“Correct. Their defensive line is solid and very difficult to breach.”
Most importantly, they had recently been led around by the nose by Zhao Hanzhang, running everywhere to put out fires, rescue people, and catch her. Very few had gone to support Liu Cong. Oh, there was Wang Mi, who had similarly been driven from his position and went there, but Chen County was defending without engaging. No matter how much they cursed outside the city gates, they simply wouldn’t open the gates to meet them in battle.
Wang Mi was skilled at siege warfare and had attacked several times, but suffered heavy casualties. The people in the city were highly motivated, firmly defending the walls—there was simply no way to break in.
Liu Yuan walked to the table to look at the map. The map in his possession was quite crude, but it could roughly show the outline of Yuzhou. He frowned deeply, marking red dots where Zhao Hanzhang had attacked, finding no pattern at all. “What exactly is her objective?”
“Perhaps she has no objective, simply disrupting us. After all, since she appeared, our rear has indeed become chaotic.”
Liu Yuan’s brow remained tightly furrowed. After a long pause, he slowly shook his head. “No, she must have an objective. Didn’t you hear the scout reports? He Chang relies heavily on Zhao Hanzhang and specifically appointed her as Deputy General. Right now, Yuzhou follows her orders. She’s effectively Yuzhou’s commanding general. Would a commanding general not defend the city but come to our rear without an objective?”
Liu Yao was startled and quickly asked, “Could it be to find Your Majesty?”
Liu Yuan was shocked—he had the same thought.
Liu Yao snorted coldly. “She’s got quite the nerve. Isn’t she afraid she won’t be able to leave once she comes?”
But Liu Yuan relaxed, stroking his beard. “If that’s truly her thinking, then we can wait at ease for the fatigued enemy.”
Someone thought otherwise. “Zhao Hanzhang isn’t stupid. With only two thousand troops, how would she dare attack Your Majesty?”
Liu Yuan replied, “Observing her military tactics, she’s clearly an extremely bold person. Young people—having audacity is normal. Perhaps she’s thinking of killing me to destroy the nation and establish unprecedented merit.”
As it turned out, Zhao Hanzhang’s thinking wasn’t that erratic. Her mind wasn’t broken—she wouldn’t dare charge straight to the enemy’s main camp with two thousand men. So after circling halfway around, confusing everyone and completely losing them, she entered Yanzhou’s territory.
Zhao Hanzhang headed straight for Dongping Kingdom. Gou Xi was currently in Dongping Kingdom, with his main army also stationed there.
As long as they wanted to, cavalry could move very quickly. Zhao Hanzhang took only one day to approach Dongping Kingdom, and then Gou Xi discovered them.
Truly deserving of being a famous Jin general—his control over Yanzhou was strong. Even though Zhao Hanzhang had tried to avoid populated areas and marched quickly, Gou Xi still found out. He led his great army early to wait for her at the Dongping Kingdom border.
When Zhao Hanzhang learned from scouts that there was a large army ahead, she nodded, unsurprised. She took a letter from her breast and handed it to the scout. “Deliver this.”
The scout reached out to take it and bowed before withdrawing.
Zhao Hanzhang turned to Fu Tinghan. “This is, after all, the place he governs. In terms of intelligence gathering, he’s far stronger than Liu Yuan.”
Fu Tinghan asked, “So he knows it’s you coming, and also knows what you’ve been doing during this time?”
Zhao Hanzhang nodded. “We’ll be humble and wait for him to agree to see us before we go.”
Otherwise, if she thundered over with two thousand cavalry, they might very well end up fighting.